UK to fast-track failed Albanian asylum-seeker
deportations
The U.K. has announced plans to “fast-track” the
deportation of failed Albanian asylum-seekers as authorities combat a surge in
the number of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats
By DANICA
KIRKA Associated Press
August 25,
2022, 3:46 PM
LONDON --
The U.K. has announced plans to “fast-track” the deportation of failed Albanian
asylum-seekers as authorities combat a surge in the number of migrants crossing
the English Channel in small boats.
British
immigration officers will immediately process asylum claims made by Albanians
entering the U.K. on small boats, and those with no right to remain in the
country will be removed “as soon as possible,” according to the Home Office,
which oversees border enforcement.
The agency
wants to dissuade Albanians from making the risky crossing in inflatable boats
by demonstrating that they won’t be allowed to live and work in Britain. That
message is also being delivered through a series of Albanian-language ads on
social media sites.
“Large
numbers of Albanians are being sold lies by ruthless people-smugglers and
vicious organized crime gangs, leading them to take treacherous journeys in
flimsy boats to the U.K.,” Home Secretary Priti Patel said in a statement.
“This abuse of our immigration system and people risking their lives cannot go
on.”
The number
of Albanians crossing the Channel on small boats has soared in recent months,
even though Britain considers Albania a “safe and prosperous country,”
according to Home Office statistics released Thursday.
Some 2,165
Albanians arrived in Britain via this route in the first six months of 2022,
compared with just 23 in the same period last year. Overall, 12,747 people entered
the U.K. on small boats during the first half of the year, more than double the
year-earlier figure.
Albanians
are now tied with Afghans as the biggest nationalities arriving on small boats,
with each accounting for 18% of the total.
The Home
Office publicity campaign will seek to reverse this trend by warning migrants
that they face possible deportation to Rwanda and increased prison sentences
for immigration offenses. The ads also provide information on safe immigration
routes and advice to apply for asylum in the first safe country a migrant
reaches.
The
measures were announced after meetings between Patel and her Albanian
counterpart, Minister for Interior Affairs Bledi Cuci.
He said the
two ministers also discussed ways to provide more opportunities for Albanian
laborers and skilled professionals to work legally in the U.K.
“We
discourage these illegal and dangerous practices,” Cuci said of the small boat
crossings.
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